It rests in a corner of my living room, close enough to see a view of the yard through the nearby sliding glass doors. With a carved wooden border and detailed metal knobs, it’s a stunning secretary desk that gets only more beautiful knowing it used to be my grandpa’s. During the sixteen years it’s been with me, the desk has served three important roles: Read more
It manifests in my life as overwhelm + mental blocks + self-doubt. And it equals this:
A FUNK.
Mentally, that’s where I’m at as I type. Tuesday, 7:40 pm. Less than 24 hours before I’ll publish this blog.
Waiting until now to start writing makes me nervous, but lately I’ve been struggling to balance life. And it’s my work that I’ve neglected.
See, a big shift’s on its way . . . Read more
It’s my final blog of 2019, and I’ve saved an unlikely story of hope to leave you with. May you carry the spirit of its message into 2020 . . . Read more
“Too much.”
“Not enough.”
Are either of these the anthem of your current life? I mean, it is December, so I’ll assume we’re all struggling at least a little with balance right now.
But what advice would Nature give on this topic? Well, I had lots of time to contemplate this about a week and a half ago on an extended-weekend trip to Sedona, Arizona.
Because when you’re in Sedona, you can’t escape Nature. It rises around you, forming the most spectacular red-hued backdrop.
It’s all you can see and all you want to see. Yet there’s something deeper going on than just superficial beauty. Read more
A long line and small talk with a stranger—what could pair better? In fact, it was those two things that led me to a delightful conversation with, potentially, the real Mrs. Claus. Read more
When humans look at the night sky, we feel wonder. A collective curiosity to better understand what’s out there. So, with telescopes, we try to pull the stars and planets to us.
It makes sense, right? The closer we get to something, the more we can learn about it and appreciate it.
So why does life seem to work in the opposite way? Why is it that the more we zoom in on life, the more easily we can let it pass unappreciated? Read more
When you speak best through written words, like I do, special gifts tend to take that form too. So it makes sense that this year, “the year of 40,” I’ve begun a new tradition built on words.
Lists, in fact.
My best friend’s 40th gift? “40 Reasons Why You Rock.” And my hubby’s earned the title “Forty Reasons Why I Love You.”
So as I pondered my turn in the 40th birthday spotlight this coming Sunday, I thought about the forty things I’d include on my own list. And how that might make an interesting blog post.
But something was missing. Read more
Camping’s a box I checked off my to-try list about ten years ago. And it’s been purposely absent from all of my lists since then.
I don’t get the whole camping thing. A walk in the woods? Yes. Dining al fresco? Definitely. Getting away from it all? Absolutely. But a community bathroom (or worse) and no bed? You lost me.
I’d successfully avoided a second experience until my daughter came along and with her, Girl Scouts—famous for cookies . . . and camping.
So the Friday evening before Mother’s Day, I drove her and another mom/daughter duo toward our destiny—Camp Tuckaho.
And here’s what I learned in my 24-hour reunion with the one activity I’d hoped to never do again: Read more
Ever think about how the difference between one word and the next is often just a letter?
Me neither.
Except until the other day when I was searching online for St. Louis events and saw one appearing to be titled “Meditation Matters.”
“Awesome!” I thought, clicking on the link.
All that awesomeness ended when I realized the program targeted the senior population and was actually called “Medication Matters.”
Changing one little letter can catapult a word from your corner of the world to the opposite pole.
So why not apply this “one little letter” philosophy to propel ourselves in a direction we’d rather be heading? Read more
Last time it went missing, it left for a week. So when we realized yesterday at 8pm that my 6-year-old’s ninja turtle water bottle had begun another solo adventure—left behind after baseball practice—I headed to reclaim it.
The empty baseball diamond felt like the Field of Dreams set—my mind even started replaying the “If you build it . . .” line as I canvassed the outfield. The bottle lay, of course, in the last possible place I could look, but I eventually spotted its neon-green lid.
All alone on a cold metal bench.
Well, not completely alone. You see, on my search-and-rescue route I discovered a handful of baseballs, a tennis ball, a Gatorade bottle, and a purple jacket.
All left behind—the typical behavior of most kids that age.
But as I quietly walked back to my car, my shoes absorbing the evening dew, two thoughts began developing: Read more